New Season, New Team - Luton Town

The 2017/18 season is unfortunately over and done with for Blues and now it's time to look ahead to the new season which brings new challenges.

This week for 'New Season, New Team' we look at the last team to come up from League Two and that's runners-up Luton Town.

Luton were formed in 1885 and earnt their first promotion to the football league in 1897.

The club has seen a lot of success and they enjoyed two seasons in the Championship from 2005-2007 before being relegated back into League One.

The Hatters play at Kenilworth Road and have done since 1905 when the ground was first built.

The ground holds 10,356 spectators which is 2,036 less than what Roots Hall holds.

Blues have been unsuccessful at beating Luton away from home in their last 13 attempts, an unlucky streak that dates all the way back to 1964.

They finished the 2017/18 season in second place and just missed out on the League Two Title by five points.

For the majority of the season they were sitting comfortably at the top of the table but a dip in form from February to March saw them knocked off poll position.

The Hatters finished the campaign with the highest goal difference of +48 after netting an impressive 94 goals and conceding just 46.

Luton are managed by Nathan Jones who joined the club in January 2016 and has guided them to promotion in just his second full season.

Jones, a former Blues defender started his career with the Hatters but failed to make an appearance for them before he joined Southend and went on to make just over 100 appearances for the club as well as scoring two goals.

Prior to joining Luton he took charge of Brighton in the role as caretaker manager during 2014.

The last time we played Luton took place in the 2014/15 season.

The game was extremely important for both sides, for Blues they wanted to try and grab the last automatic promotion spot and needed three points to do so. For Luton they also needed to come away with a win but for them it would mean they slipped into the last play-off slot.

The first half was one of few chances but just after the break left-back Ben Coker was sent off for a foul on Shaun Walley.

Blues had to hold off their attacks due to the lack of an extra man and in turn were forced to make a number of daring challenges.

But just as the game looked to end in a draw Michael Timlin fired in an outrageous volley that landed right into the hands of Hatters keeper Elliot Justham and rolled through his arms and over the line.